Romance slips away in Mariinsky’s ‘Cinderella’

By Allan Ulrich

Published
1:08 pm PDT, Friday, October 2, 2015

The Mariinsky Ballet's Diana Vishneva and Vladimir Shklyarov dance in the company's production of Alexei Ratmansky's "Cinderella," performed at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall through Oct. 4.
Photo by Vladimir Baranovsky less

The Mariinsky Ballet's Diana Vishneva and Vladimir Shklyarov dance in the company's production of Alexei Ratmansky's "Cinderella," performed at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall through Oct. 4.
Photo by Vladimir ... more

Photo: VALENTiN_BARANOVSKY, Vladimir Baranovsky

Photo: VALENTiN_BARANOVSKY, Vladimir Baranovsky

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The Mariinsky Ballet's Diana Vishneva and Vladimir Shklyarov dance in the company's production of Alexei Ratmansky's "Cinderella," performed at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall through Oct. 4.
Photo by Vladimir Baranovsky less

The Mariinsky Ballet's Diana Vishneva and Vladimir Shklyarov dance in the company's production of Alexei Ratmansky's "Cinderella," performed at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall through Oct. 4.
Photo by Vladimir ... more

Photo: VALENTiN_BARANOVSKY, Vladimir Baranovsky

Romance slips away in Mariinsky’s ‘Cinderella’

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Any Northern California dance season graced by the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra is one to cherish, even when what is danced and how it is danced are not in perfect alignment. The St. Petersburg company did nothing to smear its reputation when it opened a four-day Cal Performances run Thursday evening at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall — nothing except to import a production of “Cinderella” by Alexei Ratmansky that is often unworthy of this institution’s legendary status as a great repository of classical dancing.

Casting the superb ballerina Diana Vishneva as the opening night protagonist eased the way through the almost three-hour production, and the fact that the Mariinsky corps dances even fatuously farcical material with respect for clean pointe work, vivid attack and musical values remains a sense of wonder. The other casts this weekend may yield some terrific surprises.

But, despite the pedigree, there’s that choreography. The Mariinsky premiered this “Cinderella” in 2002, and in the 13 years since then, Ratmansky has evolved into one of the leading choreographers of our age. But if you were expecting the irrepressible wit of “The Bright Stream” or “Namouna” or the musical brilliance of “Shostakovich Trilogy,” you’ll be disappointed.

Ratmansky gives us a shaky narrative in which the self-centered stepmother and two loony stepsisters constantly upstage the central character. The choreography is not yet sure how to point up what matters. The fairy godmother is an old tramp who creeps onstage; the transformation for the ball is almost matter-of-fact. The four seasons ballet (with a quartet of color-coded dancers and partners) is prosaic and interminable (no choreographer rivals Frederick Ashton in this scene).

The ball offers a corps in formal wear and long dresses, a large ensemble that segues from waltzes into pop-inflected dances (for no good reason, this “Cinderella” is set in the Great Depression), and as the dancers wind their serpentine way across the stage, you wonder what they are satirizing.

This is among the most anti-romantic of “Cinderella” productions. Ratmansky busies himself with sending up the story without really telling it. The prince bounces on like an inveterate narcissist, the old tramp pats her watch to remind us that midnight approaches. The stepmother and stepsisters cavort at the ball without engaging with anyone else.

Still, the third act, which is generally the weakest in “Cinderella” productions, shows glimmers of the mature Ratmansky. The choreographer uses an unusually complete edition of the Prokofiev score (I haven’t heard some of it live in ages), and he finally fuses wit and sentiment in his search for the glass slipper. The reunion of Cinderella and prince in T-shirt on a tenement balcony beautifully references “Romeo and Juliet.” And in the final duet, sentiment wins out in a melting encounter.

Vishneva seems unsure how to play the first act (pathetic or winsome?), though her work is so ravishingly phrased that when she rises in relevé, the heart beats faster. When she finally meets the prince, her body seems transfixed in an arm-waving amalgam of surprise and joy. Konstantin Zverev introduces a delightful prince, entering first in a series of jetés, partnering with uncommon empathy (he repeats the assignment Saturday evening). Bewigged in red like Carol Burnett at her most demented, Anastasia Petushkova exuded overweening pride and sterling technique as the stepmother, abetted by daughters Khudishka (Margarita Frolova) and Kubishka (Yekaterina Ivannikova). Elena Bazhenova underplayed the Fairy Tramp.

All went extremely well Thursday in the pit, where American-born Gavriel Heine conducted the 64 members of the Mariinsky Orchestra in a large-scale, effortlessly brooding performance of the Prokofiev score, finding and sustaining the music’s pensive lyricism. It doesn’t get any better.